Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aircraft pitot and static pressure sensing device, more particularly for a fighter aircraft. The present invention also relates to an aircraft having the sensing device.
In sensing devices of the aforementioned kind, a pitot tube for pressure sensing is provided which is secured, for example, to the fuselage of an aircraft as an external component. The pressures sensed in the pitot tube furnish information as to various air data parameters, such as altitude and speed. Angle of attack or side-slip of the aircraft is usually sensed with wind vanes. Pitot tubes or wind vanes that are disposed externally have various disadvantages and it is thus possible, for instance, that when the aircraft has a high angle of attack the sensing device no longer functions reliably or may even cease functioning altogether under extreme conditions. One of the reasons therefor results from the fact that when the aircraft is subject to a high angle of attack large changes in the incident flow occur at the pitot tube relative to its pressure sensing port. A further drawback in the external configuration is that the pitot tube and the wind vanes can be "seen" by radar. In addition, external components have an unfavorable influence on the aerodynamic streamlining of the aircraft fuselage.